There is no Operation Panda this winter, no Team Pablo shirts, no fanfare and no public pronouncements about Pablo Sandoval's bid to lose weight and save his career. He is working privately and, according to those who have seen and spoken to him, diligently.

Rich Aurilia saw Sandoval at a Phoenix-area shopping mall before Christmas and said the 24-year-old infielder reported he had lost 17 pounds while training at a private Arizona facility.

Jose Alguacil, a Giants infield instructor who has worked extensively with Sandoval on his defense, said Sandoval visited his house on Christmas Day and looked 20 pounds lighter.

Last week, Venezuelan reporters who attended a Sandoval news conference in Valencia (he was there for the holidays) quoted him saying he had lost 16 "kilos" with a goal of 24 "kilos" by spring training. Something got lost in translation. Sixteen kilos is more than 35 pounds. Twenty-four kilos is nearly 53 pounds. Sandoval must have meant 16 and 24 pounds.

What is the real number? The Giants will not say. In fact, they are mum, saying they will not comment on Sandoval's work this winter. Sandoval declined to be interviewed as well.

The stakes are high. The Giants lost a lot of offense with Juan Uribe's departure. They need Sandoval's bat.

The evidence suggests Sandoval has kept his promise to get into better shape in a bid to save his career.

"He looks very good," Alguacil said. "He knows what he has to do. He's paying the price for what he went through last year, and he doesn't want to face that again."

Sandoval returned to Arizona on Sunday and texted Alguacil, saying he wanted to begin baseball work immediately. Alguacil lives in Arizona and said they will begin in earnest next week. Sandoval's play at third base declined markedly in 2010. Alguacil believes the extra pounds were a factor.

"He never had 'plus' range," Alguacil said. "We always worked on (his) first step. There's no doubt about it: When you get bigger, you're going to slow down."

Aurilia was impressed by Sandoval's appearance at the mall.

"When I saw him, he looked great. He really did," Aurilia said. "I think his mind-set hopefully has changed in a sense that he knows what's at stake not only for the team but his own individual health and career. That's where the maturity process has to come, when you as an individual have to decide to do whatever you can to help your team and help yourself."

After hitting .330 with 25 home runs and 90 RBIs in 2009, the year Panda-mania was born, Sandoval slumped to .268-13-63 in 2010. Manager Bruce Bochy often benched him against left-handed pitching, and he started only five of the Giants' 15 postseason games. He totaled three at-bats in the World Series, and then only at designated hitter.

After the season, general manager Brian Sabean apparently put the fear of God into the third baseman, privately and publicly stating that Sandoval might need to go apartment-hunting in Fresno unless he comes to spring training in shape.

Sandoval originally planned to work out on his own in San Diego but then told the team he would spend the winter in Arizona, where the Giants' trainers live, and work out at a facility that boasts many pro athletes, including Barry Bonds, as past and current clients.

Sandoval told Aurilia he worked out "most of the weeks" since the World Series.

Sandoval's weight is part of the equation. His even freer-swinging approach at the plate contributed to his statistical nosedive last season, and that cannot be addressed in a gym. Neither can his dietary habits, which he must manage throughout the season.

But slimming his body was Priority 1, and Alguacil said, "He's very serious about his job right now."

Based on Sandoval's comments at the mall, Aurilia said, "He seemed really in tune this year on keeping the weight off as opposed to last season. Sometimes a lack of success is a good tool to get you motivated."